Theopedia

Heinrich Bullinger

“Because faith receives Christ our righteousness and attributes everything to the grace of God in Christ, on that account justification is attributed to faith, chiefly because of Christ and not therefore because it is our work. For it is the gift of God.”

— Heinrich Bullinger, The Second Helvetic Confession, chap. 15

Overview

Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575) was a Swiss Reformer who succeeded Huldreich Zwingli as head of the church in Zurich in 1531 and served in that office until his death in 1575, playing a leading role in consolidating the Reformed faith across Switzerland and beyond.1 He is best known as the principal author of the Second Helvetic Confession of 1566, one of the most widely received confessional statements of the Reformed churches of continental Europe.2

Life and Ministry

Bullinger was converted to the Protestant cause in the early 1520s through reading the church fathers and Martin Luther’s early writings. He became Zwingli’s successor as head of the Zurich church in 1531 and held that post until his death in 1575.3

In 1549 Bullinger’s Zurich church reached an agreement with John Calvin’s Geneva on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, the Consensus Tigurinus (“Consensus of Zurich”). Consisting of twenty-six articles drawn up by Calvin, it was subscribed by the churches of Zurich, Geneva, St. Gall, Schaffhausen, the Grisons, Neuchatel, and Basel, uniting the Zurich-Zwinglian and Genevan-Calvinistic parties on a question that had divided them from the Lutherans.45

Bullinger’s most substantial confessional work came at the end of his life. The Second Helvetic Confession was originally written as part of his will and as a personal testimony of faith; after revision by Theodore Beza and others, it was adopted as a confessional standard by Reformed churches across the continent.2

Theological Contribution

Justification by faith alone

The Second Helvetic Confession states plainly that “sinful man is justified by faith alone in Christ, not by the law or any works,” grounding this in Paul’s teaching that Abraham’s faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:2 ff.; Gen. 15:6) and that salvation is “through faith… the gift of God, not because of works” (Eph. 2:8 f.). Faith justifies, on this account, not because it is itself a meritorious work but because it receives Christ.6

Original sin and actual sin

On sin, the confession states that “there is original sin in all men” and that every sin arising from it, “no matter by what name they may be called, whether mortal, venial or that which is said to be the sin against the Holy Spirit,” is truly and properly sin.7 This put Bullinger against both the Pelagian denial of original sin and any scheme classifying some sins as morally indifferent.7

Historical Significance

Bullinger’s covenant theology, developed from Zwingli’s own polemic against the Anabaptists, passed through Bullinger and Calvin to the Reformed theologians of the German Palatinate, including Zacharias Ursinus, a principal author of the Heidelberg Catechism.[^bavinck-ch14] The Second Helvetic Confession he authored became, in the judgment of church historian Philip Schaff, “the most widely adopted, and hence the most authoritative of all the Continental Reformed symbols, with the exception of the Heidelberg Catechism.”8 Its sacramental theology, built on the Consensus Tigurinus, was likewise received into the Heidelberg Catechism’s own teaching on the Lord’s Supper.5

Related Doctrines

References

  1. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), chap. 2, “The History and Literature of Dogmatic Theology”: “Another Swiss reformer, Heinrich Bullinger (1504-75), played a leading role in consolidating the Reformed faith and participating in the formulation of the First and Second Helvetic Confessions (1536 and 1566) as well as the Consensus Tigurinus (1549).” ↩

  2. Samuel Eldon Waldron, Faith, Obedience, and Justification: Current Evangelical Departures from Sola Fide (PhD diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005), 92: “The Second Helvetic Confession was primarily the work of Henry Bullinger, the successor of Zwingli in Zurich. Originally written as a part of his will and as a testimony to his own faith, it was met with the approval of a number of Reformed leaders.” ↩ ↩2

  3. Jared Heath Moore, A Biblical and Historical Appraisal of Concupiscence with Special Attention to Same-Sex Attraction (PhD diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2019), 104: “Bullinger was converted to the Protestant gospel in the early 1520s through reading the Church Fathers and Martin Luther’s early works. He grew to be the successor of Zwingli beginning in 1531 and served until his death in 1575.” ↩

  4. Archibald Alexander Hodge, Outlines of Theology (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1879), 112: “It was subscribed by the Churches of Zurich, Geneva, St. Gall, Schaffhausen, the Grisons, Neuchatel, and Basle, and was received with favor by all parts of the Reformed Church.” ↩

  5. Hodge, 631: “Calvin drew up the Consensus Tigurinus in 1549 for the purpose of uniting the Zurich-Zwinglian with the Genevan-Calvinistic party in one doctrine of the Eucharist. It was accepted by both parties… It prevails in the ‘Second Helvetic Confession,’ by Bullinger… [and] the ‘Heidelberg Catechism.’” ↩ ↩2

  6. Heinrich Bullinger, The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), chap. 15, “Of the True Justification of the Faithful.” ↩

  7. Bullinger, chap. 8, “Of Man’s Fall, Sin and the Cause of Sin.” ↩ ↩2

  8. Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, quoted in Waldron, 92. ↩